2026 Ford Mustang Mach-E Premium AWD BEV

Worthy of the Name?

There is always added pressure that comes with one’s name.

You always want to be worthy of it in your words, in your actions, and in your achievements. That goes double if your parents and family have been achievers and go-getters, and even more so if you’re named after your parents. Junior always feels extra pressure and expectations to achieve more than Senior in life.

With automobiles, it’s quite similar. Any BMW with M on the name has to excite the driver at speed. Any vehicle that has a T on the grille has to endure as any Toyota should. Any Tesla should make you feel as techie as Elon.

We bring this up because I’m trying to figure out the Mustang in the Mustang Mach-E. I’m not quite sure how to feel about it.

When Ford chose to call their sporty crossover the Mustang, expectations were high. Mustang, after all, is undeniably one of Dearborn’s most recognizable nameplates, and any vehicle that shares that name can’t just be an exercise in branding for the heck of it. There has to be substance.

On the one hand, I think it looks all right. Even though it is already an older design at this point (after having been first launched in 2021 in the US, with the Philippine launch just last year), I still think it looks good. The shape -even though more bulbous- does evoke the Mustang-ness that you’d expect with the long hood, the fastback-type profile with the black extension at the rear for more headroom, along with the sporty design of the rear.

I would personally want a few things tweaked, like updating the front to be a bit more geometric rather than rounded, to be more similar to the more modern Mustang that is already available at dealerships. Of course, it is a crossover with its slightly taller proportions and the black cladding below, but that’s more to make space for the battery pack without looking too odd. It’s a clever visual trick to integrate the 88 kWh NCM battery.

On the topic of the powertrain, it does have proper performance credentials to be called a Mustang. The sole version for the Philippine market is the Premium all-wheel drive model, which means this vehicle has two electric motors and has up to 394 PS and 676 Nm of torque. The power is definitely appreciated, though it is about 100 less than the Mustang GT V8. The torque, however, is significantly more than the V8’s 567 Nm.

The Mustang Mach-E will need that torque because it has to move about 2200 kilograms and can do it from 0 to 100 km/h in 5 seconds or less. Fun as that may sound, it will burn up your tires very rapidly. The instant delivery of torque of an EV -any EV- has that effect on tires, so use the acceleration sparingly. However, if you want to drive efficiently, you can expect longer tire life and the ability to maximize range up to 550 kilometers.

Inside, the Mach-E does look quite nice. I won’t say it looks premium or luxurious, but rather clean and functional. The layout is logical: a screen for the driver, a portrait-style screen that has your usual stuff like wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto, a neat steering wheel with a column shifter, and the other usual things you’d expect like cupholders, trays, and compartments.

Neat as it all is, the cabin of the Mach-E isn’t something I would call groundbreaking or anything to write home about. I think it lacks a bit of imagination, given the monotony inside. It’s well built for sure, and certainly doesn’t have the careless finishing issues I experienced with the Explorer about two years ago. Still, I’d say the Ioniq 5 still has the nicest cabin among all EVs in this category.

Driving the Mach-E around, it’s as expected. Smooth, slick, and rapid if you want it to be. There’s a drive mode called “Unbridle” that loosens the reins, equestrian pun intended, to enhance throttle response. This is 2.2 tonnes, so there is some weight around the bends as expected, but the Mach-E manages it well. And the all-wheel drive does keep it surefooted if you keep within the limits.

The ADAS system that Ford calls CoPilot functions nicely to keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front on the highway, and does center the vehicle neatly in the lane. The brakes are strong too; the Brembo set does a good job of keeping this powerful stallion in check if you have to come to an emergency stop.

Two things that I noticed right away, though. The first is the sunroof; yes, this has a panoramic glass roof, but no shade or blind retracts. It’s just open all the time, relying on the coating to keep heat out. And yes, it works even in our temperatures and sunlight. The other is the level of noise that permeates into the cabin. EVs run quietly, so perhaps I’m just noticing it more, but it definitely feels like there is more noise entering the cabin than I would have expected from this vehicle.

As a daily vehicle, though, I think it works very well. Comfortable, drives well, and it has plenty of space with the liftgate trunk and fold flat rear seats. There’s even a little frunk that strangely has one of those anti-kidnap pull tabs to open the hood; that’s very weird because no person can fit inside there. For charging, it can accept an AC charger rated for 11 kilowatts and a DC charger that can do up to 150 kilowatts, so it’s pretty fast but not the best. Still, it works.

For pricing, they’re asking PHP 3.5 million for this. That means it costs less than the 2WD long-range variant of the Ioniq 5 at 3.7 million, but significantly more than the other variants. More importantly, it’s about 750k more than the Tesla Model Y AWD at PHP 2.75 million. So it’s hard to place how this would compare since the pricing is pretty much all over the place. It’s not like in other countries where the pricing of such models is relatively close to each other.

Maybe the Mustang branding can help, which brings me to the question: Is the Mach-E worthy of the iconic Ford badge? In my opinion: No. They should have made this a separate thing.

Maybe Ford should have used the Lightning name for this instead. That would have been cool.